Thought Myrlie Evers and John Lewis for the power of their Presence as well as their words were magnificent. And I thought President Obama did a great job yesterday getting right down to the Real Nitty Gritty. And The youngetst King Daughter. Honorable Mention to President Clinton, and President Carter's Race pilgrimage is inspirational.

Great piece this morning on www.wbhm.org on the Matt 5: 43-48 the text for the SS lesson the morning the four little girls were bombed to death in Birmingham. I called the office of Gov Bentley and Speaker Mike Hubbard to say I don't know how as Christians they can be part of a strategy of voter suppression, Gov sponsored prayer in Schools and a draconian immigration policy in the wake of 16th Street; ever mindful of the text that morning.

I hope to be in Bham Sunday for the commemoration Sunday with President Obama and Spike Lee and Condi Rice; if not in the church in the overflow crowd in Linn Park

Well, I think sort of the big issue that has not been raised in a lot of these studies is in fact race. Since the 1960s, there's been a growing sense among many whites that government programs are providing benefits to minorities, blacks at first and now blacks and Hispanics. And that has helped drive up the opposition to raising taxes to provide for more benefits.

EDSALL

10:26:48

People have made -- a lot of people have made a distinction between -- in their own minds what they see as the deserving and undeserving poor. And add to that racial factors, and you get a very strong core of anti-tax sentiment. And this has been really a profoundly important part of the rise of conservatism. The -- I just read some figures the other day that Mitt Romney -- of the 251 counties that have had double digit increases in food stamp usage, Mitt Romney carried something like 150 of them, a clear majority.

EDSALL

10:27:41

There are a lot of very poor white counties in West Virginia, Kentucky, all through the Appalachian area where the Republican strength has become overwhelming. And a lot of that is based, I think, on racial matters, where people are disregarding their own interest and want to distinguish themselves from minorities in effect.

GJELTEN

10:28:13

And you attribute that to, what, to demagogic politicians, to -- I mean, how is -- I mean, this is something that we have seen in the American society and other societies for decades and decades and decades, isn't it?

EDSALL

10:28:26

Yes. I mean, it's been an ongoing process. And you -- this may be going a little far afield, but we now have a Republican Party that is overwhelmingly a white party.

I was on Paul Finebaum nationwide ESPN Sirius radio talk show in a call in yesterday afternoon. Was proud of Finebaum's testimony of reading the Taylor Branch trilogy.Am proud of my alma mater, Furman, for hosting MLKings speechwriter, January 27 on campus.